Since you mentioned that you'd sell your Glock to get the 45, I have to ask what purpose does this gun serve? since you didn't say, I'll assume for the purpose of my response that self-defense is at least a part of it. OTOH, if your intention is to use this gun strictly as a range gun, then get what you want & enjoy it.
Parameters of the ideal self-defense handgun:
#1. It must be absolutely 100% reliable. 99.999% is not good enough.
#2. It must be as safe as possible to operate under extreme life-threatening stress. We're not talking about how safe it may be at the range; we're talking about how well the gun behaves when you are scared bleepless and
all semblance of fine motor control is gone.
#3. It must be totally intuitive to operate under extreme life-threatening stress. Absolute attention is required by the situation - nothing is left over to operate the gun beyond pulling the trigger.
#4. The gun must be capable of stopping the threat - the stopping power part of the defensive hand gun; 9mm, 357-SIG, 40 S&W or 45 ACP with 380ACP & 38SPL for BUGs.
Note how stopping power is last?
Your Number One priority is "Do no harm". It's simply not OK to have any kind of "oops" that results in someone getting hurt that didn't need to get hurt. As crazy as it might sound, that includes the bad guy the instant the threat has stopped.
I carried 1911-s for over 20 years in the service, and I've owned 3 of my own - especially nice production 1911's costing $1200+. Plus, I hope to acquire some more before my shooting days are over. I shoot my customized SA Trophy Match in competition regularly. None the less, I am not a fan of 1911's for defensive use, nor Glocks, or XDs, or M&P's (even though we own 3 M&Ps) even though
all of them are excellent guns.
Glocks are absolutely reliable, even if they are ugly. 1911's are not absolutely reliable, even if they are gorgeous. It's a fact of life that 1911's need more frequent cleaning and TLC in order to run right.
For example: My Springfield Trophy Match is at the factory getting a bobtail conversion & the dumbbell that packed my range bag forgot to put the Dan Wesson 1911 in it for a match last month. So, I borrowed a Kimber from one of the guys. Cool. Now, Kimbers are among the better 1911's yet they are subject to the same issues that other 1911's are. In other words, that Kimber ran so poorly, jammed so often that my total time was actually slower than I was with my 686 revolver.
In this case, the problem was that the gun was OK for the first 90 rounds fired by the owner, but by the time it got to around 150 rounds during my run, it was too dirty to function properly. That's way too fussy for a defensive pistol. By comparison, I can shoot my Sig P226 for several days of 400 rounds/day in practice and then shoot it in a 200 round competition and it never skips a beat.
There are reliable 1911's out there, but they tend to cost north of $2K. Production 1911's are not assured to be reliable out of the box. Certainly, most of them are OK & the S&W's are among the better production 1911's as well as what I'd choose if I was in the market for a reasonably priced ($1000) production 1911. But, they aren't perfect, nor are Sig's, Kimber's or Dan Wesson's. Maybe someday I'll pop for an Ed Brown, though.
A 1911 is not on my A-list for a defensive gun - and why would I chose a B-List gun for defensive use? Not only because of the reliability question, but because IMHO that wonderfully slick trigger isn't suitable for a defensive gun.
The best defensive guns have DA triggers, either DA/DA, true DAO or long pull striker-fired (such as Kahr & Ruger). This is especially true for novice and intermediate level shooters.
Extremely few people can adeptly control a fast & light 1911 trigger in a real life defensive situation when the stress level is way past anything they've ever experienced and the adrenalin and heart are pumping to the max.
The fact is that most of these situations don't require pulling the trigger. But, a fast/light trigger can easily result in an unintended discharge. Yeah, a lot of folks will say "Don't put your finger on the trigger until . . ." Well, if you are toes-to-toes with a bad guy and you do your presentation, you WILL have your finger on the trigger during last part of the presentation because you are preparing to shoot, not just flashing the gun. But, if the bad guy runs you really don't want to shoot the guy - well maybe you do.
My point is that a good DA trigger for that first shot is best because it gives the armed citizen a last chance to not shoot. Since most defense scenarios are at very close range, there is no downside to the DA trigger.
A defensive gun must not only be 100% reliable and have a trigger ideally suited for defense instead of target shooting, it must also be uber simple to operate, even under extreme stress. That rules out thumb safeties. Thumb safeties are OK for experts or those that have practiced their draw thousands of times, but why? There's absolutely no need for a thumb safety on a gun with a traditional DA trigger.
So what's on my A-list for defensive guns?
Sig classic P-series - P226, P229, P239, P250, P290 (Sig P226R, P226 Elite, P6 & P232 are our choices)
Kahr - pick one (K9 & PM9/PM40 are our favorites, though the PM40 can be fussy with ammo)
S&W 3rd generation - pick your caliber, all are excellent (we have two 3913's and a 4563TSW
Beretta 92 - excellent for home defense, but huge
H&K - excellent for home defense but customer service is iffy
If it's a 45 you want, then I'd suggest Sig P220 (they come in several flavors), Sig P250, Kahr PM45 or any of the older S&W's wtih 45xx model numbers, such as the 4563 & 4566.
